The GGF GLASS Charter – Aspire to be the best you can be

The GGF GLASS Charter – Aspire to be the best you can be

Phil Pinnington explains how being in the GGF GLASS Charter can benefit your business

Health and Safety in our industry often expect companies to meet or exceed a set of minimum standards, whether it’s in simple compliance with legislation, or in the case of an increasing number of construction projects, particular accreditations.

Before going any further, it has to be made clear that legal compliance is the minimum any business should be working to, but at the same time, it shouldn’t be the only standard that a business maintains. Any business should strive to improve and become better. By striving for better Health and Safety standards, it’s inevitable for companies to find improvement in staff retention and their quality of work.

Often when talking Health and Safety, one of the most common things that seem to hamper many business owners is the cost in time and manpower it takes to ensure good practice. It’s not unusual to hear comments such as “This will take months” or “I’ll have to employ someone to do this”, and an old favourite, “I can’t justify the cost of this”.

These are often valid reasons, but if a company is in the position whereby winning that big contract relies on them having good infrastructure in place, then rather than give reasons not to invest resource, thought and commitment, they should aim to ensure the right procedures and practices are in place.

Take the example of risk assessments. By law, they should be ‘suitable and sufficient’ but who decides, you or the client, or even the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)? Well, the simple answer is you, the company. It’s your assessment as the ‘expert’, it’s your employees doing the work, and inevitably if things go wrong, it’s you that will have to defend your actions.

This may, on the face of it, seem very daunting and you may be searching the internet to find a Health and Safety consultant in your area, but hold fire. Yes, the worst-case scenario is you may get called to account if things go wrong, but everything should be in perspective.

As a GGF member, you have a Health and Safety resource, somewhere you can go to get competent advice, guidance, a sense check or perspective. We deal with many processors, installers, and fabricators, and as a neutral body, we share good practices to help businesses overcome unfamiliar situations.

Likewise, the GGF seeks to support and acknowledges what good Health and Safety standards look like through the GGF GLASS Charter Scheme. It’s simple to navigate and offers a signposted route to improved Health and Safety. The key driver – Improving Health and Safety is appropriate for your business.

The GGF offers a free Health and Safety audit giving you the opportunity to have your systems reviewed and access information on how other Members have addressed particular challenges. Members who have been through the GLASS Charter process have, without exception, found it valuable and it has given them added confidence in applying Health and Safety practice appropriate to their business.

Any Member interested in the GLASS Charter scheme should, in the first instance, download the GGF GLASS Charter booklet from the Members’ Area of the GGF website. If you would like an informal chat, an initial audit or simply more information on GLASS Charter, then feel free to contact the Health and Safety department via email healthandsafety@ggf.org.uk